N00657:40
A discourse concerning the uncertainty of the times of men, and the necessity of…
A discourse concerning the uncertainty of the times of men, and the necessity of being prepared for sudden changes & death. Delivered in a sermon preached at Cambridge in New England. Decemb. 6. 1696. On occasion of the sudden death of two scholars belonging to Harvard College. / By Increase Mather, president of that college. ; [Two lines from I Samuel]A discourse concerning the uncertainty of the times of men, and the necessity of being prepared for sudden changes & death. Delivered in a sermon preached at Cambridge in New England. Decemb. 6. 1696. On occasion of the sudden death of two scholars belonging to Harvard Colledge. / By Increase Mather, praesident of that colledge. ; [Two lines from I Samuel]
printed by B. Green for Samuel Phillips, 1697
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Dreadful guilt is upon the Souls of them, that have gone to Enquire of such vile Creatures, and so of the Devil by them. That famous Gentlewoman, Mrs. Honeywood, who was a long Time under doleful desertions, the first Occasion of her sore Conflicts ⟨p. 25⟩was that she had Enquired of a Fortune teller concerning the Recovery of a sick Child. Much more is it Evil to be a Practitioner in this Iniquity. And it deserves to be Lamented with tears of Blood, that ever any one that has had a Standing in this College, should be found in the number of those horrid Creatures. A late Writer observes, that persons who consult Fortune tellers, or Judicial Astrologers, are many times visited with signal Judgments: And that this was an usual practice in Jamaica, a little before the late dreadful Earthquake there; and yet those Wretches could not foretell that Earthquake before they were swallowed up alive in it.
Dreadful guilt is upon the Souls of them, that have gone to Enquire of such vile Creatures, and so of the Devil by them. That famous Gentlewoman, Mrs. Honeywood, who was a long Time under doleful desertions, the first Occasion of her sore Conflicts ⟨p. 25⟩was that she had Enquired of a Forune teller concerning the Recovery of a sick Child. Much more is it Evil to be a Practitioner in this Iniquity. And it deserves to be Lamented with tears of Blood, that ever any one that has had a Standing in this Colledge, should be found in the number of those horrid Creatures. A late Writer observes, that persons who consult Fortune tellers, or Iudicial Astrologers, are many times visited with signal Judgments: And that this was an usual practice in Iamaico, a little before the late dreadful Earthquake there; and yet those Wretches could not foretel that Earthquake before they were swallowed up alive in it.
Inf. 3. If men know not their Time, then they are concerned to make a good […] of the present Time. How does it concern us to spend our Time well? And Now whilst we have Time, to do all the Service for God, and for Jesus Christ that possibly we can! we know not how soon our Opportunities for Service may be gone. Either Death or Sickness, or some other Providence may deprive us of them. We should therefore imitate the good Angel in Thyatira, unto whom the Lord Jesus Christ said, I know thy Service and thy works, and that the last be more than the first.